Devices for feed hoppers of cigarette packaging machines



De. 30. 1969 A. sERAGNoLI DEVICES FOR FEED HOPPERS OF CIGARETTE PACKAGING MACHINES Filed July 24, 1967 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 xNvENToR.

r/Os 0 Gra BY C n Jfgen Dec. 3G, 1969 3,486,647

DEVICES FOR FEED HOPPERS 0F CIGAEETTE PACKAGING MACHINES Filed July 24, 19e? A. SERAGNOLI 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. /rlosl'o .Serdgmo L:

svga@ Dec. 30, 1969 A. sERAGNoLI 3,486,647

DEVICES FOR FEED HPPERS OF CIGARETTE PACKAGING MACHINES Filed July 24, 1967 5 sheets-sheet s INVENTOR.

r/asl'o eragnob dgent Dec. 3o, 1969 lA. SERAGNOU I 3,486,647

DEVICES FOR FEED HOPFERS OF CIGARETTE PACKAGING MACHINES Filed July 24, 1967 5 Sheetvs-Sheet 4 FII-'Q17 INVENTOR.

/Qf/olfo 456.029960 l BY :f Z f JVQenL' De.3o,1969 ASF'MGNOL. 3,486,647

DEVICES FOR FEED HOPPERS OF CIGARETTE PACKAGING MACHINES Filed July 24, 1967 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR.

r/osfoeragnoh Y ygent United States Patent O Int. Cl. B65f 3/02; B65b 21/02 U.S. Cl. 214-302 5 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This disclosure relates to a device for feeding hoppers of machines and more particularly of machines aimed at grouping cirgarettes according to a given package and in which the cigarettes themselves are fed by means of parallelepiped compartments or containers, which have a discharge opening, the containers being introduced in a supporting head, which has a plurality of seats opposite one another and separated by a diaphragm, a wall for receiving at least two of these containers, operative means being provided to rotate the supporting head and to discharge the cigarettes in a feeding hopper and to substitute the empty containers by full ones.

This invention relates to devices suitable for feed hoppers of cigarette packaging machines and more particularly of such machines which are able to group cigarettes according to a pre-established packet. More precisely the invention relates to a device of this class, with a rotatable head, by means of which given quantities of cigarettes received in compartments or containers fed by said head are sent to the hoppers according to sequences which are alternated by the removal from said rotatable head of the discharged compartments.

In the manufacturing of cigarettes, it is well known that a particularly important problem is that connected with the transfer of the cigarettes from machines which manufacture them to those machines which group them and package them in form of the conventional cigarette packets.

In the current practice it has become customary to arrange the cigarettes, which are produced by the manufacturing machines, within transportation compartments, the depth of which is equal to the length of the cigarettes and which compartments are open on a side or front face and on the upper side. In these compartments the cigarettes are accumulated by arranging them in a parallel relationship. When the compartments are lilled up to the level of the upper side, they are brought with all cigarettes to the grouping and packaging machines, to form the packets. Here the compartments are brought in a counter-frame and are then tilted on top of the feeding hopper of the grouping machine, wherein the cigarettes are made to fall. In this manner, the cigarettes go over from the transport compartments to the feeding hopper of the grouping machine, while they always remain in parallel relationship between each other. When successively a compartment is discharged, it is removed and replaced by a full one and so on.

The performing of this cycle requires, in order to succeed, to make sure that when the cigarettes are made to fall from the compartment in the hopper of the grouping machine, the level of the cigarettes in the hopper itself is very close to its upper edge, i.e. to the full level in said hopper, so that the height of free falling vof the cigarettes from the compartment in the hopper is kept small since otherwise the cigarettes, when they fall, arrange themselves disorderly and give rise to inconveniences in the working of the grouping machine. When the working speed of the grouping machine is very high, the lowering 3,486,647 Patented Dec. 30, 1969 of the cigarettes in the hopper is very quick, so that it is necessary that the replacement, on top of the hopper, of the discharged compartment with the full compartment is performed very quickly otherwise, if a long time elapses it happens that, when the cigarettes are left to fall from the new compartment in the hopper, they fall from a height which is too great, so that they arrange themselves disorderly.

It is a principal object of the invention thus to provide a device of the said class and for the said use, which is capable of effecting the `quick replacement on the top of the hopper of the grouping machine, of the discharged compartments by full compartments, by means of a rotatable feeding head.

Another object of this invention is to provide such a device, in which the rotation of the rotatable feeding head, for the replacement on top of the hopper of the discharged compartment by full compartments take place with the help of means which are capable of sensing the emptying which has already occurred, of the compartments and thus are capable of actuating the rotation of said rotatable feeding head so as to immediately replace the emptied compartments with full compartments.

A still further object of this invention is to provide the possibility of devising such a device for replacing on the top of the hopper of the grouping machine of the empty compartments with full compartments, which device is capable of operating at a high feeding speed and a high replacement speed of the full and empty compartments.

A further object of the invention is to provide means for removing from the rotatable feeding and replacement head the empty compartments and to convey thereto the full ones, which means are combined with mechanisms for the easy and practical removal and conveyance of the empty and full compartments respectively, from and to said rotatable head.

A still further object of the invention is to' provide means for holding in position the compartments on the rotatable head and for holding in position the cigarettes in the compartments and for causing them to fall respectively at the moment of the discharge in the hopper of the grouping machine.

Finally, a still further object, but not a last one, of the present invention, is to provide such a mechanism, which is capable of performing all preceding objects, by means of a structure which is particularly simple, of easy construction, of sure working efficiency, of simple and prac tical use and also and mainly of a relatively inexpensive price when the yielded performances are taken into consideration.

These and still other objects are all achieved by the device according to this invention for feeding hoppers of machines aimed at packaging of cigarettes and more particularly of machines aimed at grouping cigarettes according to a given package and in which the cigarettes themselves are fed by means of parallelpiped compartments, which are open on two sides i.e. one lateral side and one upper side respectively, which latter is intended to form the discharge opening of the compartments themselves, said device Ibeing characterized in that it comprises a supporting head, rotatably carried about an horizontal axis and shaped so Kas to have a diaphragm forming a plurality of seats which are able to receive at least two of said compartments in a mirror symmetry or laterally inverted position respectively with the corresponding lateral side open against said diaphragm; actuation means capable of holding said compartment in said positions on said rotatable head; operative means capable of operating in the range of the discharge opening of said compartments to; at least along two sides, said discharge opening; control means for rotating the rotatable head so as to switch the position of said compartments and to bring them successively from an arriving position on the head to a discharge position for the cigarettes and from the discharge position to a removal position respectively from said head of the discharged compartment; and means capable of actuating, in synchronism with said means for actuating the rotation of said rotatable head, said actuation rreans in order to lock on said rotatable head and disengage from it a compartment in the arriving position for the feeding and in the removing position respectively, after the discharge and said operation means operating in the range of the discharge opening of the compartment itself, so as to hold in position within the compartment the cigarettes during the switching step from the arriving position to the discharge position and in order to make the cigarettes themselves fall from said discharge position, respectively.

Further features and advantages will appear more clearly from the detailed description which follows and which refers to a preferred embodiment, which is not intended to have a restricting meaning, of the device according to the invention, which is illustrated as an example only and not with a restricting spirit, in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the whole device according to a preferred embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 shows on a perspective view a part of the device of FIG. l relating to the motion unit of said device;

FIG. 3 shows in a perspective view a part of the device of FIG. l, relating to the portable head;

FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 show a diagram relating to the feeding of the compartments;

FIG. 7 shows the electromechanical diagram of the working principle of said device;

FIG. 8 shows the diagram of the time-steps of said device;

FIGS. 9 and 10 show in a lateral and frontal view respectively a particular rod at an enlarged scale;

FIG. 11 shows in a diagrammatical perspective view a transport compartment for said cigarettes; and

FIGS. 12 and 13 show in a diagrammatical perspective view alternative embodiment of the feeding and replacing rotatable head of the device itself.

With reference to said drawings, from FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 it may be seen that the device in question comprises a frame-work formed of a -basement 1 having resting feet 2, of a part 1a arranged to extend vertically on said basement 1 aimed at containing the actuation members, as will be seen hereinafter, of a part 1b, which is provided with va shoulder 1c (see iig. l), which is superimposed on part 1a and wherein the actuation members are to be housed and of two supporting members 1d-1e arranged on the top of said part 1b, so as to correspond in its position to the longitudinal end portion, as seen in FIGS. 1, 2.

In t-he interior of part 1a of the frame-work a longitudinal vertical wall 1f may be seen (for instance from FIG. 1) on which an electrical motor 4 is secured by beans of bolts 3 or other equivalent and conventional means.

On the shaft 5 of said electrical motor 4, a pulley 6 is keyed, which by means of the transmission belt 7 transmits the movement to a pulley 8 which is rigidly mounted on a shaft 9 of a speed reducing mechanism 10, secured to said longitudinal vertical wall 1f of the framework by means of bolts 11 or other conventional and equivalent means. On the shaft 12, coming out from the speed reducer 10, a pulley 13 is rigidly mounted, which pulley, transmits the movement by means of the transmission belt 14 to a pulley 15, which is keyed on a shaft 16, which is hereinafter called the driving shaft.

Said driving shaft 16 is rotatably supported by the transversal-vertical walls lg-lh, which are provided in the interior of the part 1b of the frame work. On the right-hand end of said driving shaft 16 (when looking to FIG. 1) a plurality of cyclical cams 17 to 23 are keyed which are aimed at cooperating with a corresponding microswitch, which are indicated by reference numerals from 24 to 30 respectively (see FIG. 7), said microswitches being carried by a supporting member 31 which is lheld by means of the supporting member 32 which is secured in a known manner to the part 1b of the framework, an arrangement around said cyclical cams occurring according to a given angular position, as diagrammatically shown in FIG. l.

On the left-hand end of the same driving shaft 16, when looking at FIG. 2, there are keyed starting from the right end up to the left-hand end, a cam 33 with an actuation groove 34 on one lateral side, a disc 35 with an idle radial roller 36 for the actuation of a Maltese cross, as will be seen hereinafter, a drum cam 37 with an actuation groove 38 on its peripheral rim and a toothed wheel cam 39, with an actuation groove 40 on one lateral side, respectively.

As said hereinbefore, the disc 35 is aimed at driving, by means of its idle roller 36 a Maltese cross 41, which is mounted on a shaft 42, which is supported on cantilever bearings 43 which are secured to the rear wall of the part 1b of the framework. On said shaft 42, which is rotationally connected with the Maltese cross 41, a gear 44 is also provided, which is in mesh with a gear 45, rigidly connected, through the hub 46, to a gear 47. Said gears 4S and 47 are arranged for free rotation on a shaft 48, carried by the support member 1d. The gear 47 meshes with a gear 49, keyed on a shaft 50, horizontally extending from the support member 1d to the support member 1e, on which said shaft 50 is carried so as to freely rotate (see FIGS. 1 and 2). v

On the end portion of said shaft 50 which project Within the support member 1e a gear 51 is keyed, which meshes with a gear 52, rigidly mounted on one end portion of the shaft 53, which is rotatably carried at said end portion by said support member 1e and which extends in a direction which is parallel to that of the shaft 50 so as to be carried at its other end by the support member 54, which is secured cantilever-wise to the parts 1b of the framework.

From the support member 1e a rod 55 is also supported in a direction which is parallel to that of shaft 53, said rod 55 crossing in 56 the support member 54. At the free end of said rod S5, the end portion of an upright 57 is secured, which with its other end is attached to the basement 1 of the framework (see FIG. 1). On the shafts 50 and 53, two sprocket wheels are respectively mounted in a rigid relationship, said sprockets being indicated by 58, 59 and 60, 61. On said sprockets, the endless transport chains 62, 63 and 64, 65 are respectively mounted, which are wound to form a closed circuit on the relative sprocket or guiding wheels 66, 67 and 68, 69.

The sprocket guiding wheels 66, 67 are mounted for free rotation on a shaft 70, which is horizontally supported by the support members 71, which are rigidly connected to the basement 1 of the frame-work, while the sprockets 68, 69 are mounted for free rotation on a shaft 72, which is horizontally supported by the supporting member 73, in turn rigidly attached to the basement 1 of said framework. Said pairs of chain 62, 63 and 64, are aimed at feeding the cigarettes in the manner which will be hereinafter described with more details, with reference also to the FIGURES 7 to 11. IIn the groove of the drum cam 37, which is rigidly mounted on the driving shaft 16, a roller 74 is engaged, which is carried in an idle manner by the end portion of an arm 75 of a two arm-lever 76, to the end of the other arm 77 of which a furtherv idle roller 78 is provided.

Said two-arm lever 76 is carried for free rotation about its pin 79 by the part 1b of the framework, in the manner which is diagrammatically shown in reference numeral 80 in FIG. 2. Said idle roller 78 is engaged in the annular groove 81 of a member 82 comprising two radial idle rollers 83, 83', which are arranged in a diametrically opposite relationship and are provided for the actuation of a Maltese cross, as will be seen hereinafter, said member 82 comprising furthermore a toothed wheel 84. The member 82 is mounted so as to be free to rotate and free to slide on the shaft 85, which is carried at one end by the peripheral wall of the part 1b of the framework and at the other end by the wall 1c' of the shoulder 1c of the same part 1b of the framework itself. With said toothed wheel 84, the gear 39 is meshing, which is keyed on the driving shaft 16.

As said before, the member 82 has as its purpose to actuate, by means of its idle rollers 83, 83', a Maltese cross 86, which is mounted on a shaft 87, carried by the part 1b of the framework in a conventional manner and thus not shown in detail in the enclosed drawings. On said shaft 87, which is rigidly connected in its rotation with the Maltese cross 86 through the hub 88, a sprocket wheel 89 is also provided. On said sprocket wheel 89, a transmission chain 90 is mounted so as to form a closed circuit with the aid of the sprocket wheel 91, keyed on the shaft 92 which is rotatably carried by the shoulder 1c of the part 1b of the framework and which forms the rotation shaft of the rotatable head which will be hereinafter described. Said transmision chain 90 slides on a guiding sprocket wheel 93 and on a chain wheel 94 of a chain stretcher 95. Said chain stretcher wheels 93 and 94 are idly mounted on a corresponding pins which are indicated with reference numerals 96 and 97 respectively, which pins are carried by said shoulder 1c of the part 1b of the framework (see FIGS. 1 and 2). Said rotatable head which is generally indicated with reference numeral 98 is formed of two head pieces 99, 99', which are longitudinally connected between each other by two horizontal crosspieces 100, 100' and by two metal sheets 101, 101', forming a median diaphragm so as to give rise to two seats 102, 102', having shape as seen in FIG. 4. Said horizontal crosspieces 100, 100 are shaped so as to form a bottom rest part 103, 103', with a slope 104, 104', for the compartments 105 of the cigarettes, one of said compartments being shown with more details in FIG. 7 and being described more extensively hereinafter. The head piece 99' of the rotatable head 98 is secured in a conventional manner, through the flange membr 106' to the rotating shaft 92, while the head piece 99 extending through the flange member 106 is carried by the pin 107 which is supported by the support member 108, which is secured with its base part 108"to a xed part 109. Along the sides of the head pieces 99, 99', in the range of each seat 102, 102', a corresponding angular piece, indicated with 110, 110' and 111, 111', of which one arm 110a, 110a' and 111a, 111a' extends towards the inner of said seats 102, 102', so as to form a rest surface for the compartments 105, as will be seen hereinafter.

On the opposite sides of the angular plates 110, 110' and .111, 111', projecting between the pairs 110, 110' and 111,

111' of said angular plates respectively, in a parallel relationship with the corresponding horizontal side of the rotatable head 98, edge members indicated with 112, 112 and 113, 113' are respectively provided.

Said edge members 112, 112' and 113, 113' cooperate at their ends with the end portion o-f the arms 114, 114', 115, 115' and 116, 116', 117, 117' of a corresponding twoarm element indicated with reference numerals 118, 118', 119, 119' and 120, 120', 121, 121 respectively. The twoarm elements which form the pairs 118, 119, 118', 119' and 120, 121, 120', 121' are pivoted in a sequence of two series of alternated pairs on the outer side of the heads 99, 99', about the pins which are indicated by the reference numerals 122, 123, 122', 123' and 124, 125, 124', 125' and are connected between each other in the same order as the single pairs, by means of the tie rods 126, 126' and 127, 127', pivoted about the `same two-arm elements in 128, 129, 128', 129' and 130, 131, 130', 131 respectively.

The arms 132, 132' and 133, 133' of the two-arm elements 118, 118' and 120, 120', is pivoted in 134, 134 and 135, 135 respectively to the armatures 136, 136' and 13'7, 137' of a corresponding electromagnet, which is generally indicated in 138, 138' and 139, 139', which is supported by a relative support member 140, 140' and 141, 141', carried by the head pieces 99, 99'. Furthermore the arms 114, 115, 114', 115 and 116, 117, 116', 117' of the pairs of two arms elements 118, 119', 118', 119' and v120, 121, 120', 121' are respectively connected with each other by corresponding resisting springs 162, 162' and 163, 163' (see FIG. 3).

In the interior of the horizontal cross-pieces 100, 100' of the rotatable head 98, near the head pieces 99, 99' two electromagnets generally indicated with 142, 142' and 143, 143 are secured to each of said rods 100, 100.

Said electromagnets are of a conventional class and to their suction armature 144, 144' and 145, 145 the end of an arm 148, 148' and 149, 149' is pivoted in 146, 146' and 147, 147', said arm pertaining to corresponding twoarm elements 150, 150' and 151, 151', which is pivoted in 152, 152' and 153, 153' to a -relative support member 154, 154' and 155, 155', which is carried in a stationary manner by the head pieces 99, 99' of the rotatable head 98. The end of the other arm 156, 156' and 157, 157 of said two-arm elements 150, 150' and 151, 151' is shaped, in the plane of one rotatable head, as movable plate members 158, 158 and 159, 159', which may be arranged for movement in said plane of the rotatable head through a corresponding slot 160, 160' and 161, 161' cut in the relative head pieces 99, 99 of said rotatable head 98 (see FIG. 3). These plate members 158, 158 and 159, 159', as it will be seen hereinafter, have the function to retain the containers in the rotatable head 98. In the groove 40 of the cam gear 39, the roller 164 is engaged, said roller being idly pivoted in 165 on a lever 166, which is pivoted with one end and by means of the pin 167 to the elements 168, which are secured to the part 1b of the frame-work. At the other end, said lever 166 carries an end portion of tie-rod 170, which portion is pivoted in 169 and the other end of which is pivoted in 171 to the end portion of a radial arm 172 of a sleeve member 173, keyed on a shaft 174, which is rotatably carried by the outer wall of the part 1b of the frame-work and by the support member 108 (see FIG. 1). On the shaft 174, a frame generally indicated with 176 is secured by means of the U-bolts 175, which frame is formed of two shaped elements 177, 178, for the attachment to said shaft 174 and of three horizontal transverse rods 179, 180, 181.

Said horizontal transverse rods 179,180, 181 each carry three idle rollers, of which those which are associated to the Across rods 179, 180 are indicated by 182 and 183 respectively and those associated to the transverse rod 181 are indicated with reference numeral 184. Said rollers 182, 183 and 184 are arranged in such a manner (see FIGS. 4, 5 and 6) that those indicated by 184 are suitable, as will be better seen hereinafter, for receiving the resting bottom of the transport compartments 105, while those indicated by 182 and 183 are suitable to receive the resting rear wall of the compartments themselves.

Attached to element 177 in the plane o-f the frame 176, an extension 185 is provided, which projects with its free end through the plane of a head piece 99 of the rotatable head 98. At said free end, said extension 185 carries an idle roller 186, suitable for engagement in slidable relationship in the guides 187, rigidly connected to said head member 99 of the rotatable head 98, for guiding the frame. 176, during its hereinafter described movements.

To the horizontal transverse rods 179 and 180, a support member 231 is secured, to which an electromagnet generally indicated in vreference numeral 232 (see FIGS. 1, 7) is attached.

The chain pairs 62, 63 and 64, 65, as a consequence of the continuous mesh of the toothed wheels 51 and 52 are moved as will be seen hereinafter, in the direction of 7 the arrows f and f' (see FIG. 1) respectively, by means of the angular plates 188 (see FIGS. 9 and 10) attached to the links of the chains themselves, carry a plurality of horizontal transverse rods series, of which one. single series is shown in said FIGS. 9 and 10 and are indicated with reference numerals 189, 190, 191 respectively.

The transverse rods 189 and 190 each carry a plurality of idle rollers which are indicated by 192 and 193 respectively and are similar in shape and arrangement to the idle rollers 182 and 183 of the horizontal rods 179 and 180 of the frame 176, while the cross rod 191 carries a plurality of idle rollers 194 similar in shape and arrangement to the idl rollers 184 of the horizontal rods 181 of a same frame 17 Between the chains 63 and 64 of the chain pairs 62, 63 and 64, 65 and the chain `62 of the chain pair 62, 63 and the frame 176, is provided a corresponding series of idle rollers and vertical guides, in such an arrangement as to `be flush with the level of the said series of idle rollers 182, 192, 183, 193, 184, 194, during the intervals, as will be seen hereinafter, of the intermittent movement of said chain pairs 62, 63 and 64, 65. Said corresponding series of idle rollers and vertical rods are carried by the framework, but are not shown in the accompanying drawings for obvious simplifying purposes, in view of the similarity of the hereinabove disclosed series.

The support members 1d-1e carry a beam 195 extending horizontally from the support member 1e up to a point close to the head piece 99 of the rotatable head 98 (see FIG. 1). Said beam 195 has a cross section having a C shape, with the open side arranged to face the device, when looking at FIG. l. On said beam 195, close to its end extending towards said head piece 99 of the rotatable head 98, an electric motor 196 is secured. On the shaft 197 of said electrical motor 196, a pulley 198 is keyed, which, by means of the transmission belt 199, transmits the motion to the pulley 200, which is rigidly mounted on the shaft 201, carried by the beam 195, so as to extend in the interior of the C-section of the pin itself (see FIG. 1).

On the inner side of the C-section of the beam 195 of said shaft 201, two chain wheels 202, 203 are furthermore keyed, which are spaced apart between themselves. On said chain wheels 202, 203, the chains 204, 205 are mounted to form a closed circuit with the aid of the guiding chain wheels 206, 207, which in turn are rotatably mounted on the shaft 208 carried by the beam 195. On said beam 195, two microswitches 209, 210 are furthermore secured, which are electrically connected to the electric motor 196, as shown in the electro-mechanical diagram illustrated in FIG. 7 and which will be more particularly described hereinafter.

The actuation members 211, 212 of said microswitches 209, 210 extends towards the interior of said C-section of the beam 195 and is suitable for actuation by the striking members secured to one of the chains 204, 205, one only of said striking members, which is indicated with reference numeral 213, being shown in the drawings and more particularly in FIG. 1.

In the interior of the C-section of the beam 195, in the range of the actuation members 211, 212 for microswitches 209, 210, a rail member 214 is furthermore provided, on which the chains 204, 205 slide so as to ensure the actuation of said actuation members 211, 212 for said microswitches as will be seen hereinafter, with the aid of said striking members. At a distance which essentially corresponds to the length of the transport compartments 105, the chains 204, 205 carry two cross-rods 215, 216, to one of which, numbered with numeral 215, a universal joint striking member 217 is attached on the outer side of the opening of the C-section of beam 195, said striking member 217 being suitable for inclination in any direction; to the other cross rod 216, a striking member 218 is attached and may be displaced in the direction of the chains 204, 205 against the reaction of the spring 219.

In the groove 34 of cam 33, which is keyed on the driving shaft 16, a roller 220 is engaged, which is idly carried at the end portion of a lever 221, which is keyed at its other end on the end portion of shaft 222. This shaft 222 is rotatably carried by part 1b of the framework and extends parallely to the driving shaft 16 so as to project with at its other end in the interior of said part 1b of the framework (see FIG. 1).

On this end portion of shaft 222, the end of lever 223 is rigidly mounted, the other end of which is pivoted in 224 on a carriage which is generally indicated by reference numeral 225 and is caused to slide on the lateral guides 226, which are secured to the framework (see FIG. l).

Said carriage 225 comprises a frame formed of the cross pieces 227, provided with wheels 228, which are engaged for sliding in said lateral guides 226. To said carriage 225 a pusher 229 is furthermore rigidly connected, which is suitable for discharging the empty compartments, as will be seen hereinafter, from the transport chains `64, 65. On the shaft 222 a guiding roller 230 is also mounted, which is suitable for guiding the transmission belts 14, for guiding them from the pulley 13 of the speed reducing gear 10 to the pulley 15 rigidly mounted on the driving shaft 16.

Below the rotatable head 98, the hopper 233 and a transport belt 234 are diagrammatically shown, with a thin dotted line, said hopper 233 and said conveying belt 234 being a part of the grouping machine to be fed with cigarettes, by means of the device in question, in the manner which will become apparent hereinafter.

FIG. 7 shows the electromechanical diagram of the working principle of the above disclosed device, with reference to FIGS. l, 2 and 3 and in said diagram, are shown the rotatable head 98 and all those electromechanical parts which have already been disclosed and shown in said FIGS. 1, 2 and 3.

Furthermore, below said rotatable head 98 and above the upper edge of hopper 233, suitable for discharging the cigarettes, the sensitive mechanism is arranged, which comprises a lamp 235 having means for projecting a light beam toward a photocel 236, which is arranged so as to be struck by the beam 237 whenever the cigarettes fed to said hopper 233 descend to a level which is lower than the level of said light beam 237, as will be seen hereinafter.

The sensitive mechanism comprises furthermore an amplier 238, of which a microswitch 239 is represented in the drawing, which is movable from a closing position 1, 2 to an opening position 1, 3. Said amplifier electrically linked to a microswitch 240 having two contacts, which are movable from a closed position 1, 3 and 2, 5 to an opening position 1, 4 and 2, 6. Said microswitch 240 is in turn interlocked to a member 241 suitable for starting and cutting olf the Working of the device, by means of its convenient manual positioning.

On the shaft of the rotatable head 98 and more particularly in the embodiment shown in the drawing, on the shaft portion 92, which for the sake of clarity is shown in a stretched manner, pairs of approximately half-oval shape members 242, 242 and 243, 243 are mounted so as to be conveniently insulated from an electrical point of view, among said members pertaining to the rotation of said rotatable head 98, said half-oval shape members which are made of electrically conducting material being arranged in an electro-working diagram as visible in FIG. 7 and being capable of cooperating, as will be seen hereinafter with a wiper contact indicated, as far as each pair is concerned, with 244 and 245. There are furthermore shown the magnetic starters 246, 247, 2418 of the class having an overload and under-voltage protection, an electrical transformer 249 with an output of 24 v. and a keyboard 250, comprising two contacts 251 and 252 which are normally open for the manual starting of the device and normally closed respectively for manually stopping the same device. The magnetic starter 246 has four contact pairs, which are normally open, of which the pair 1, 5 for self-excitation, whilst the magnetic starters 247 and 248 each have live contacts, of which the pair 1, 6 is normally closed and the other pairs normally open. The contact pairs 2, 7 of said magnetic starters 247 and 248 are made of self-excitation contact pairs of the same magnetic starters 247 and 248.

In FIG. 8 there is shown the diagram of the working cycle step times of the device corresponding to a rotation of 360 of the driving shaft 16. In said diagram, as far as the Maltese crosses l'86 and 41 are concerned, the line above the base line of the relative diagram shows the time in which they are in movement, while as far as the actuation cams 39, 40; 37, 38, and 33, 34 are concerned, the inclined portion shows the actuation time and the portion which is parallel with respect to the base of the diagram shows the time of rest in the reached position. For the cyclical cams 17 to 23, the line above the neutral line which is shown by thinner dots shows the opening time of the related microswitch and the line below said neutral line sho-ws the closure time of the same microswitch.

FIG. 11 shows the manner in which the compartments 105, which are used for transporting the cigarettes, are formed and the manner in which the cigarettes themselves are arranged in said compartments. Said compartments 105 are formed by a bottom 10'5a, a rear wall or face 105b and two sides 105C. The front and upper Sides are opened. In the -compartments 105 the cigarettes 253 are arranged in a parallel manner, with an axis which is essentially perpendicular to the rear face 105b, up to the moment in which they are completely full, as shown in FIG. 1l. The ends of the sides 105C are slightly inclined towards the interior of the compartments, in their upper end portion and at least the rear Wall 105b is made totally or partially of magnetizable material. The working of the above described devices is as follows:

The compartments 105, full of cigarettes, are brought, by hand or by mechanical actuation not shown, to the chains 62, 63, so as to bear with their bottom 105a on the series of idle rollers 194 and with their Wall 105b against the series of idle rollers 192 and 193 (see FIG. 9).

The device is then arranged (see FIG. 7) for an automatic cyclical working, by acting on the setup member 241, so as t bring into the closure position 1, 3 and 2, 5 the contacts of the microswitch 240|.

At this point, the pushbutton of the microswitch 251 is actuated, whereby its contacts 1, 2 are closed. Consequently, through the same microswitch 2'51, the magnetic starter 246 is excited, which thus closes its contacts and is kept self-excited, as far as its contact pairs 1, concerned, this self-excitation occurring through the microswitch 24 associated to the cyclical cam 17 for stopping the machine and the microswitch 252, normally closed, for a manual stopping of the machine itself.

With the closure of the contact pairs 2, 6; 3, 7 and 4, 8 of the magnetic starter 246, the starting of the electrical motor 4 occurs, which drives the driving shaft 16 in the above described manner with reference to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3. The rotation of the driving shaft 16 by means of the idle roller 36 of the disc 35 causes the Maltese cross and the gear 44 rigidly connected with said shaft to effect an angular displacement and thus (see FIGS. 1, 2 and 3) through the gears 45, 47 and 49, a rotation occurs in the direction of the arrow f2 of the shaft 50 and in the opposite direction, i.e. of the arrow f3, of the shaft 53 which is coupled with said shaft 50 by means of the gears 51, 52.

The rotation of the shafts 50 and 53 in the direction of the arrows f2 and f3 respectively causes the front branch of the chains 62, `63 and 64, 65 to advance in the direction of the arrows ;f and f1 respectively, conveying the compartments, which are replenished with cigarettes and which are carried by the chains 62, 63 towards the upperside and conveying the empty compartments which arrive at the chain 64, 65, downwards, as will be seen hereinafter.

Assuming now that a compartment, which is full of cigarettes and is carried by the chains 62, 63, has already arrived in the position 105A, that the rotatable head 98 has already effected, as Will be better seen hereinafter, its 180 rotation during a cycle per each machine and that the point of said cycle per machine has been reached wherein, by means of the cyclical cam 19, the microswitch 26 is closed.

The closure of said microswitch 26 causes the magnetic starter 248 to be excited through a pair of contacts 1, 6, which are normally closed, of the magnetic starter 247; the magnetic starter 248 remains in its self-excited condition as a consequence of the position of the pair of contacts 2, 7 and of the closed microswitch 210. The closure of the pairs of contacts 3, 8; 4, 9 and 5, 10 of said magnetic starter 248 causes the electrical motor 196 to be started, which through the transmission belt 199 and pulley 200 drives into rotation the chain wheels 202, 203 and thus displaces the chains 204, 205 in the direction of the arrow f4.

As a consequence of the movement of said chains 204, 205, by means of the striking member 218, which is secured to said chains, the compartment, -which is full of cigarettes and which is in the position 105A, is pushed by sliding on the said idle bearing rollers, in the position of 105B on the frame 176, which, in this very moment of the cycle, is in longitudinal alignment with the pairs of chains 62, `63 and 64, 65, corresponding to its intermediate position (see diagram of cam 40, FIG. 8) between the position of closest approachment to the rotatable head 98 and the position of maximum removal from said head 98, in the manner which will be more evident hereinafter and from the sarne diagram of cam 40, which is shown in FIG. 8.

Meanwhile, the striking member 213, which is secured to the chains 204, 205 comes Within the range of the actuation member 212 `of the microswitch 210, opening its contacts so as to brake the feeding of the magnetic starter 248, which, by its magnetic release, opens its contacts, stopping the electrical motor y1'96 and thus the movement of the same chains 204, 205, which have pushed the full compartment in said position 105B.

At this point, cam 40 (see the corresponding diagram shown in FIG. 8) causes the shaft 174 and thus the frame 176 to rotate in the direction of arrow f5, through the idle roller 165 of lever 166, the rod 170 and the radially extended sleeve 172, 173, whereby the compartment which is full of cigarettes is brought from the position 105B to the position 105C on the rotatable head 98 (see FIGS. 4, 5).

Said cam 40 is shaped so as to cause the frame -176 to rotate in a direction which is opposite to the arrow f5, rst bringing it in a position which is diagrammatically shown by the dotted line 2'54 corresponding to the maximum removal from the rotatable head 98, so as to allow said rotatable head 98 to effect a 180 rotation, as will be now seen, in fact, the rotation of the driving shaft 16 with the help of the gear 39 causes the gear 84 to rotate and thus the member 82 with the idle rollers 83, 83 and the annular groove 81 to also rotate, while said member 82 is axially displaced by the cam 37, 38 and the rotatable lever 76 so that the idle rollers 83, 83 are brought in the plane of the Maltese cross 86, which is made to -rotate along with one of said idle rollers 83 or 83', according to a pre-established rotation ratio between the gears 39 and 84.

The rotation of the Maltese cross 86 causes the chain wheel 89 secured to said cross 86 also to rotate and thus, by means of the chain 90 wound on the chain wheel 91 it causes the rotatable head 98 to eifect a 180 rotation, whereby the compartment which is full of cigarettes, is brought from the position C to the position 105D where the cigarettes are discharged in the hopper 233 beneath.

Assuming for instance that a compartment 105, which is full of cigarettes, has been previously discharged and 1 1 that consequently, by the rotation previously mentioned of 180 of the rotatable head 98, it has been brought from the discharged position 105D to the position :105C so as to be removed in the manner which will be hereinafter explained.

Together with the rotatable head 98 and with the shaft 92, the semi-oval shaped members, 242, 242 and 243, 243', made of electrically conducting material are also made to rotate, whereby, as a consequence of said rotation, the semi-oval shaped members 242 and 243 are brought into contact with the wiping contacts 244 and 244 respectively.

The connection of the semi-oval shaped member 243 with the corresponding wiping contact 245 causes the electromagnets 139, 139' to be excited, this excitation occurring in timed relationship with the cyclical cam 20, which closes its associated microswitch 27; said electromagnet 139, 139" causes the members 113, 113' to spread apart or space away between each other and thus the opening of the discharge mouth of the compartment in position 105D, whereby the cigarettes are permitted to fall from said compartment in the hopper 233 beneath. The electromagnets 139, 139 operate through respective mechanisms 120, 120'; 121, 121' and 127, 127', and against the resisting action of the associated springs 163, 163'.

Simultaneously, the connection of the semi-oval member 242 with the corresponding wiping Contact 244 causes the excitation of the electromagnet 143, 143', in timed relationship with the cyclical cam 21 which closes its associated micros-witch 28 (see FIGS. 7, 8); said electromagnet 143, 143 with the help of the relative associated two-arm members 151, 151' and against the resisting action of springs related thereto (which are not shown in the accompanying drawing) cause the plate 159, 159 to spread apart, thus freeing the empty compartment, whereby it can be removed, -as will be seen now, from the position 105C of the rotatable head 98, to be transferred in the position 105B of the rotatable frame 176.

While the discharge of the cigarettes in the hopper 233 of the compartment takes place in the position 105D, the rotatable fname 176 is made to oscillate through the cam 40 and the relative mechanism which has been heretofore described, so as to be brought from its most removed position to the nearest position with respect to the rotatable head 98 and simultaneously, in timed relationship with the cyclical cam 22 closing its associated microswitch 29, the electromagnet 232 is excited, which comes into engagement with the empty compartment in its position 105C and brings it in the position 105B, as a consequence of the rotation whereby said frame returns in the position 105B, which rotation is transmitted by the action of said cam 40 (see FIGS. 7, 8).

At this point, a microswitch 25 is closed by means of the cyclical cam 18. The closure of said microswitch 25 causes the magnetic starter 247 to become excited through the contact pair 1, 6 which is normally closed, of the magnetic starter 248, said magnetic starter 247 remaining self-excited as a consequence of the position of its pair of contacts 2, 7 and through the closed microswitch 209. The closure of the contact pairs 3, 8; 4, 9 and 5, 10 of said magnetic starter 247, causes the electrical motor 196 to be put into motion, with a rotation direction which is opposite to that which has been described as a consequence of the excitation of the magnetic starter 248 and thus chains 204, 205 are put in motion in a direction which is opposite to the arrow f4.

By the movement of said chains 204, 205, and with the help of the striking member 217 which is secured to said chains, the empty compartment which is in the position 105B on the frame 176, is pushed and slides on its corresponding idle rollers, passing to the position 105A, to the position 105B, on the `chain pair 64, 65, where it is stopped as a consequence of the breaking of the feeding of the electrical motor 196, ensuring the disenergization of the magnetic starter 247, which is being brought about by the opening of the microswitch 209 by means of a striking member (not shown in the drawings) associated to chains 204, 205, in a manner which is similar to the arrangement of the above mentioned striking member 231, with respect to the opening of microswitch 210.

At this point, it occurs again in the above described manner a displacement of the chain pairs 62, 63 and 6.4, 65, by causing a compartment which is full of cigarettes to advance upward a compartment which is full of cigarettes in the position A and downwards an empty compartment, respectively, from the position 105B to a position beneath.

There follows now (see FIGS. 7, 8) the already described steps to displace said full compartment from the position 105A to the position 105C on the rotatable head and then the stopping of the device as a consequence of the disenergization of the magnetic starter 246, as a consequence of the opening of the microswitch 24 by means of the cyclical cam 17.

When the discharge of cigarettes from the compartment in position 105D is ended, i.e. when cigarettes no longer pass before the light beacon 237 which is being emitted by the light source 235, and consequently when the level of cigarettes in the hopper 233 has been lowered beyond the level of the light beacon which connects said light source 235 with the photocell 236, which is in timed relationship with the cyclical cam 23, which `closes its associated microswitch 30 and with the cyclical cam 17, which in the meantime has closed again its associated microswitch 24 (see FIGS. 7, 8) as a consequence of the setting up as far as the automatic working conditions are concerned, as said hereinbefore, and taking into account the position of member 241 and thus the closing of the micro-contact 239 of the amplifier 238, the magnetic starter 246 is excited through said microswitch 30, through said micro-contact 239 in its closed condition and through the microswitch 252 in its normally closed conditon, for the manually operated stopping of the machine. Said magnetic starter 246 remains then self-excited, as already seen and hence, the driving shaft 16 is actuated, in a timed relationship with the cyclical cam 20, which opens its associated microswitch, by the dis-energization of the electromagnet 139, 139', which in this disenergizing condition allows the members 113, 113' to be brought again in their starting closure position under the action of the resisting springs 163, 163', said dri-ving shaft 16 causing as already seen, the rotatable head 98 to eiTect a new rotation, bringing the empty compartment from the position 105D to the position 105C and the full box, which, as already seen, arrived into the position 105C, from this latter position to the discharge position 105D, thus repeating the cyclical working operations, which have been already described.

By the successive step displacement of the chain pair 64, 65, the empty compartments are brought from position 105B (FIG. 1) downwards, where, taking into account that pusher means 229 is actuated by cam 33, 34 through lever 223, said compartments are removed from the chains themselves and placed on a board 255, which is shown by a thin dotted line in FIG. 1.

In FIGS. 12 and 13, two alternative embodiments of the rotatable head 98 rare shown. In such figures, the equal or corresponding parts, with respect to those referred to in the description relating to the detailed embodiment hereinabove disclosed, are indicated by the same reference numerals,followed by an index letter to distinquish them. According to the embodiment shown in said FIGS. 12 and 13, the compartments, instead of being brought to the rotatable head and removed therefrom by a frontal motion, are fed to the position 105C `and removed there-from by a tangential movement, since the housings. are shaped in a convenient manner, .e, ver- 13 tically (see FIG. 12) and horizontally =(see FIG. 13) respectively.

It is obvious that said embodiment and the alternatives, which lare herein mentioned -with reference to FIGS. l2 and 13, are given only as an example and it is consequently manifest that within the spirit of the invention which has been above described and will be hereinafter claimed, many modications and changes can be provided, above all as far as practical construction of details are concerned, without departing from the Scope of the invention itself.

I claim:

1. A device for feeding hoppers of machines aimed at packaging of cigarettes and more particularly of machines Iaimed at grouping cigarettes according to a given package and in which the cigarettes themselves are fed by means of containers with parallelepiped compartments, which are open on two sides i.e. one lateral side and one upper side respectively, which latter is intended to form the discharge opening of the containers themselves, accordi-ng to the improvement said device comprising a supporting head, rotatably carried about an horizontal axis and shaped so as to form a plurality of seats opposite one another and separated by a diaphragm wall, said seats being yable to receive at least two of said containers in a mirror symmetry and inverted position respectively with the corresponding lateral side open against said diaphragm; retaining and release means capable of holding and disengaging said container in said seats; actuation me-ans for rotating the rotatable head so as to bring the compartments successively from an arriving position on the head to a discharge position for the cigarettes and from the discharge position to a removal position from said head of the discharged compartment; -actuation means capable of operating in the range of the discharge opening of said compartments so as to close partially and at least along two sides said discharge opening and to hold the cigarettes in position wihtin the compartment during the passage from the arriving position to the discharge position and in order to make the cigarettes themselves fall into the hoppers, respectively; and means capable of actuating, in synchronism with said means for rotating the rotatable head, said retaining and release means and said means operating in the ra-nge of the discharge opening. l Y

2. A device according to claim 1, further comprising a support frame for receiving the cigarette feeding compartments, supported so as to rotate about an horizontal axis parallel to the rotation axis at the supporting head in order to approach to said supporting head to bring the 3. A device according to claim 1, wherein the means for actuating the rotation of the supporting head comprise electric switches for linking an electrical driving motor, said electrical switches being interlocked with manually operated control means and sensing control means respectively, which Ilatter are capable of sensing the end of the discharge step from the compartments in the feeding hopper, cyclical -action control means being associated to said control means.

4. A device according to claim 2, comprising a pair of endless transport mea-ns for feeding and removing said compartments, said transport means being arranged in side-by-side relationship, in series -with the rotatable support frame and being inclined from downwards towards upwards so as to be arr-anged in the plane of said frame, when it is' situated in a middle position with respect to the supporting head; driving means to drive said transport means with an opposite advancing movement and actuation means to control said driving means in order to impart to said transport means a step by step movement in synchronism with the movements of the rotatable head and of said rotatable support frame, said transport means and said rotatable support frame being provided lwith a plurality of rolling means which are arranged so as to bear the bottom and the wall opposite to the open lateral side of the compartments respectively, endless transfer means which are driven in synchronism Wit-h said movements of the rotatable head and of the rotatable support frame, to transfer the compartments from a transport means to said support frame and from said support frame to the other transport means.

5. A device according to claim 4, comprising endless transfer means, which are associated in synchronism to the endless transport means -for the upward feeding towards said compartments, said transfer means being provided -with a plurality of elements i-n form of teeth which constitute a sequence of bearing seats for the transport of said compartments toward the rotatable support frame and backwards to the transport means in order to remove them, and comprising pusher means having a reciprocal movement in order to advance the compartments in synchronism with said removal transport means compartments in the corresponding seats and to be spaced away in order to remove the compartments ltherefrom; and means for actuating the rotation movements of said supporting frame in synchronism with the means for actuating the rotation of said supporting head, with the actuation means for retaining and releasing said compart ments with respect to said supporting head and with the 'actuation means for operating in the range of the discharge opening of the compartments themselves.

on bearing and receiving means.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,799,413 7/1957 Innocenti 214--302 3,190,478 `6/1965 Schermund 214--307 3,229,837 1/1966 Schermund 214-312 3,239,085 3/ 1966 Schermund 214-307 3,298,549 1/1967 Schermund 214-307 HUGO SCHULZ, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 214-307, 312 

